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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/26066461">Prison Visit</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairycat/pseuds/fairycat'>fairycat</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>The Great (TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Dialogue Heavy, F/M, Polyamorous Catherine, Prison, Swearing, arguably more historically compliant than the show itself, post-coup</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-08-23</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 12:06:48</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>1,813</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/26066461</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/fairycat/pseuds/fairycat</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>It has been a few years since the coup. Peter is wasting away in prison. Catherine visits him.</p><p>I wasn't sure whether to tag this as Catherine/Peter or Catherine &amp; Peter, so I tagged it as both.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Catherine &amp; Peter III (The Great TV 2020), Catherine/Peter III (The Great TV 2020), implied Catherine/Orlo (The Great TV 2020)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>43</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Prison Visit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>I have this image in my head of Catherine visiting a deposed, imprisoned Peter. If they don't just kill Peter, this is how I would want the show to handle it. It could open more opportunities for both comedy and angst.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The first time Catherine went for a visit, she was exhausted and not in her right mind. That’s what she told herself, at least.</p><p>Don’t take that the wrong way. She had an amazing support system. She still had Orlo, kindhearted and brilliant and loyal to a fault. She still had Velementov, though his poor health was catching up to him. She had gained more allies and taken more lovers. (Advisors, allies, and lovers—some people were in more than one category.) She was determined to bring Russia into a golden age, and they were with her every step of the way.</p><p>Even so, none of them were Empress of Russia. None of them had ever been in her position. They did their best to understand—and Catherine appreciated it, she truly did—but it wasn’t the same and never would be.</p><p>There were two other people she was aware of who knew what it was like, and one of them had passed away. The other one . . .</p><p>Catherine lifted her skirts as she descended the stairs to make sure her hems wouldn’t drag on the ground. This place was filthy. Old bloodstains left ugly reddish-brown patterns among the gray stone and dirt smears. Mildew grew in the corners where the walls met the floor. A layer of dust covered everything, making Catherine sneeze.</p><p>“Oh! Who’s there?”</p><p>She didn’t respond. She kept silent until she approached the prison cell. The former emperor slouched against the wall. Had his blue eyes lost their luster or had she simply gotten used to brown ones lately? That aside, his face looked thinner and his hair fell in unkempt clumps on his forehead and around his ears. Against the very law he had passed, he had a beard. His clothes, much more like a serf’s than the royal finery he used to wear, had collected dirt and dust. In short, he looked like a mess.</p><p>“Catherine,” Peter said, his tone patronizing. “The Empress of Russia has deigned to grace me with her presence. To what do I owe this honor?”</p><p>Catherine crossed her arms and stood straight in front of the cell. “Cut the bullshit, Peter.”</p><p>“Bullshit’s all I have anymore,” said Peter. “I have nothing to my name here. I have nothing to do. I even get bored jerking myself off.”</p><p>“I hope you like being bored,” Catherine said. “I’m very not-bored. I’m the opposite of bored. What’s the opposite of bored? It should be <i>exhausted</i>.”</p><p>“Does this mean this isn’t a conjugal visit?” Peter said with a pout.</p><p>“You are no longer my husband.”</p><p>“You keep telling yourself that.” Peter’s smile was crooked in the messiest, least-charming kind of way. “What’re you so fucking exhausted about, anyway?”</p><p>“Oh, are you finally listening to me?” Catherine tried not to laugh. “I’m exhausted running the country, that’s all! No big deal!”</p><p>“Can’t be that hard. I did it.”</p><p>“You were a shit emperor.”</p><p>“Was not.”</p><p>“You and your cronies were uneducated and backward. The Russian people never knew you. Everyone in your court was afraid of you. You know why everyone always said yes to you? Always laughed at your jokes? Because they knew you’d kill them if they did otherwise!”</p><p>Peter laughed, but it was somewhere between a chuckle and a pant. She had struck a nerve. He had learned a little too late how his “friends” truly felt about him. If they had loved him as much as he thought they did, he would still be on the throne.</p><p>“So?” he eventually said. “You think you’re a better ruler, then?”</p><p>“I know I am.”</p><p>Peter scoffed. “Are you spreading all those silly little ideas about lighting?”</p><p>“What?”</p><p>“That lighting shit. Science and French philosophy and whatever else it was you were always going on about. Made you fangirl over Voltaire and other frilly feminine Frenchmen. That shit Orlo the virgin liked.”</p><p>“ . . . You mean Enlightenment ideas?”</p><p>Peter gave Catherine an innocent look. “Was that not what I said?”</p><p>“Also, he is very much not a virgin,” Catherine muttered, a smug smile gracing her lips.</p><p>“What was that?”</p><p>“Oh, nothing. <i>I think nothing, my lord</i>.” The empress giggled at her joke. “But it’s good you brought up the Enlightenment. Of course, not everyone can be as excited about these ideas as I am, but oh my god! You should see some of the court ladies now! They’re learning to read, and it’s opening so many doors in their minds! You would hardly recognize Georgina anymore, though I always knew she had a good head on her shoulders.”</p><p>Peter sat up. “You’ve gotten into Georgina’s head?”</p><p>“Hers and Grigor’s. Don’t worry, just their heads and hearts, not their pants. I’m busy enough as it is.”</p><p>Peter chuckled at that. “I’d like to see you fuck Georgina.”</p><p>Catherine rolled her eyes. “Anyway, I spent all day in meetings with advisors. We’re not sure if we have the funding we need for the education we want to implement.”</p><p>Peter nodded as if he understood. “Advisor meetings are boring when you don’t threaten or mock anyone during them.” He looked at Catherine. “Though I suppose you think you’re above that?”</p><p>“I don’t want to lengthen these meetings with that crap. They’re already full of crap as it is.” She sighed. “We need to build more schools! No, we don’t, how will we fill them at this point? There aren’t enough teachers or students right now. Let’s employ teachers from the West! No, they don’t know enough about Russia! We’re shaping the lives of Russian citizens. Will they still be Russian after what we’ve done to them? What do you mean done to them? The ideas may be Western, but they will still read, write, and speak Russian. They will respond to and shape the theories they learn about with their Russian minds and Russian voices. <em>I</em> said that last part.”</p><p>She looked over at Peter, a proud smile on her face, but Peter had gone back to slouching against the wall.</p><p>“Right, whatever. And then they were talking about affording the materials and labor needed to build the schools, and how we could just get serfs to build them, but would the buildings be any good given their unskilled labor? It’s construction, it can’t be that hard. And then some bullshit arguing about that whole thing. And then they were going on about materials. Books and shit, you know—well, <em>you</em> probably don’t.”</p><p>“Hmm?”</p><p>“Point is, the Russian education system has been in a sorry state, we’re trying to salvage it, and honestly? We have no goddamn idea what we’re doing.” Catherine huffed. “I didn’t even tell you half of what I heard and said today in these meetings.”</p><p>A smile spread across Peter’s face. He laughed. “Oh my fucking god! You really care about this shit, don’t you?”</p><p>“Yes. Yes, I do. I suppose it wouldn’t be anywhere near as stressful if I didn’t, but . . . it’ll be worth it when we’ve got everything sorted.”</p><p>“It sounds pretty sordid already,” Peter quipped.</p><p>“Ha, ha.” Catherine gave in to her weariness and, despite how it would mess up her clothes, sunk to the floor. “It’s just hard for me not to doubt myself sometimes. Is this the best way to reach our goals? Are we even headed in the right direction? I don’t want to bring us into ruin, especially not while trying to do good things.”</p><p>Peter rolled his eyes.</p><p>“Guess you wouldn’t know about that, would you?”</p><p>“About what?”</p><p>“Trying to do good things for your country.”</p><p>“I . . .” For once, Peter was at a loss for words. He mimed throwing something across the prison cell. “I never wanted to come to Russia in the first place, anyway. Why did you imprison me here? Why didn’t you send me to a prison in Holstein-Gottorp?”</p><p>“We need to keep an eye on you here,” said Catherine.</p><p>“Oh? Do you think I’ll plan a coup like you did? Do you think I’m as brilliant as you think you are?” Peter laughed. “There’s no way. I can tell you’ve got everyone wrapped around your finger. The fat old fuck loves you. The roach loves you. The whore loves you. The other whore loves you. The other-other whore loves you. The guy from Minsk loves you. What do they see in you?”</p><p>Catherine leaned close to the bars keeping Peter in his cell and locked eyes with him. “They see hope. Hope for the future prosperity of Russia.”</p><p>“You do seem weirdly obsessed with that,” Peter remarked. “You’re the empress. You could have a hundred bears in the palace if you wanted, but no . . . you want to soften and castrate and feminize Russia with reading and rational thought. You want lightening up.”</p><p>“Enlightenment.”</p><p>“Whatever. You’ve got a lot of people in your corner. You’ve got a fuckton of resources—I would know, they used to be mine. You still have that stupid determination in your eyes. Whatever boring thing you’re planning next, you’re sure to get it done.” He sighed. “And I shall know Russia even less. Good riddance. Seriously, why the fuck am I here and not back home?”</p><p>“I already answered that question,” Catherine said. “Do you want me to send Velementov here again so he can laugh at you and call you a loser?”</p><p>“He calls me more things than ‘loser,’ dear Catherine, many more things. You say I let Russia go uneducated, but I taught the court some very important vocabulary words.”</p><p>Catherine rolled her eyes yet again. No surprise he would take credit for the courtiers’ potty mouths. He might as well. She didn’t want to take the blame for it, though she was always a breath away from being just as crude.</p><p>“So . . . are you sure this is not a conjugal visit?” Peter asked, licking his cracked lips.</p><p>Catherine huffed and stood. She was tired of this foolishness.</p><p>“Don’t go! Remember how I used to eat your pussy?”</p><p>“Goodbye, Peter.” Catherine turned to leave. Why did she come down here?</p><p>“Come back soon! I get lonely!”</p><p>She walked out of that prison determined never to see his messy face again. She would let him be lonely. She sure wasn’t lonely.</p><p>
  <i>You’ve got a lot of people in your corner.</i>
</p><p>He was right about that. At that moment, having all those supporters seemed like less of a stressor and more of a blessing. Witnessing the man who had lost his backers and was suffering for it put things into perspective. Maybe, just maybe, she could accomplish what she had set to do?</p><p>
  <i>You still have that stupid determination in your eyes. Whatever boring thing you’re planning next, you’re sure to get it done.</i>
</p><p>Correct again. What was it they were saying in Western Europe these days? A stopped clock was right twice a day. Catherine laughed as she ascended the staircase.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>For now, this is a one-shot. I may add more if I feel pulled to it, but I don't promise anything.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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